Dead whale washes up covered in 'shark bites'

A ranger says a dead whale that has washed up on a South Australian beach is covered in shark bites.

Researchers hope to retrieve the skeleton of the 12-metre whale, which washed up at Tumby Bay on lower Eyre Peninsula on Tuesday.

Senior wildlife ranger Nat Staniford says there are shark bites across the whale's body and there had been reported sightings of great whites in the area.

"It's hard to determine whether [the bites] happened in the shallow water or while it was still out at sea," he said.

But some locals have suggested the marks on the carcass are too regular in appearance to be shark bites.

Researchers have estimated the carcass weighs about 15 tonnes.

Catherine Kemper from the South Australian Museum says retrieving the carcass would give a rare chance to boost research work and marine education efforts.

"In my time with the museum - which is almost 30 years - there's only ever been two adult-sized ones, so it's exciting for science and it would be marvellous to have another one in the collection," she said.

"There's not many times that adult southern right whales have come up on our coast dead. The last one of an adult size was 2001 at the Head of the Bight.

"We collected the whole skeleton of that as well as other soft tissues. That is the only full adult southern right whale skeleton in Australia, in any museum or anywhere, so it's pretty important."